Editor’s note: Publisher Sara Wyant has been invited to serve on the board of the Flinchbaugh Center.
Four years have passed since we lost renowned agricultural economist Barry Flinchbaugh, but a group of agricultural leaders is determined to keep his legacy alive.
As Agri Pulse As he wrote in his obituary, there are many diverse and talented agricultural economists in this country, but Flinchbaugh was unique in his style, his colorful stories and his convictions. Anyone who ever met him would never forget him.
As a professor and lecturer, Flinchbaugh taught agricultural policy to approximately 4,000 students and was a frequent speaker at agricultural gatherings across the country. Before his death on November 2, 2020, he was professor emeritus in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University, where he had joined the faculty in 1971.
August 17 marked the one-year anniversary of the founding of the Barry Flinchbaugh Center for Ag and Food Policy.
The BLF Center Board of Directors met at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, to celebrate the Center’s launch, unveil its new branding and website, and, most importantly, talk about its policy work on behalf of the food and agriculture sector. The Board includes former Agriculture Secretaries Dan Glickman and Mike Johanns, as well as a number of other agricultural leaders who fondly remember the changes Barry Flinchbaugh brought to agricultural policy circles.
“Barry was a consensus builder who knew the key to sound agricultural policy was being a good listener,” noted Glickman, a former congressman from Kansas. “He would say, maybe this crazy guy who never agrees with me has a good idea to change the world.”
“He also advised me to focus on a few core ideas rather than trying to solve every problem in the world. And finally, he was funny. Damn funny. His great sense of humor was infectious and helped influence people across the political spectrum.”
Although the BLF Center will be based in Kansas, its policy focus will be national. The board faced the difficult task of deciding which of the many issues facing the food and agriculture industry to address first, including water availability, the farm bill, environmental policy and rural infrastructure – to name a few. For the near future, the top priorities are water, biotechnology and labor.
James Flinchbaugh, Barry’s son, announced that family and friends would match donations of up to $95,000 to the center.
The BLF Center is not the only place where important agricultural issues are discussed and debated. There have long been regional policy centers that often analyze issues for congressional agriculture committees, including the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri, the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M, FarmDoc at the University of Illinois, which also draws experts from across the Corn Belt, and the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University (CARD). All of these institutions play an important role in providing insights and analysis.
North Dakota State University is also working on developing a regional policy center.
However, the BLF Center wants to differentiate itself by assessing the impact of policy decisions and highlighting potential consequences. For example, there could be an analysis of specific changes in the H-2A work program that key lawmakers can read and make informed decisions based on the results.
Overall, the goal of the Flinchbaugh Center is to enable thriving, competitive, and sustainable U.S. agriculture and food systems, with the following goals:
- Improve understanding of policy alternatives and consequences.
- Empower policy makers, agricultural leaders, food system stakeholders and the public to make informed decisions.
- Ensure that agricultural policies and strategies are based on facts and rational considerations.
The Center also supports the Flinchbaugh Ag Policy Chair at Kansas State and the Flinchbaugh Fellows Program, student-focused education and leadership initiatives with state and national policy engagement.
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